A Nightmare in a Dream
by acceptmyawkwardness
Summary: Percy is having strange dreams, which is normal for a demi-god, right? But these are some not-so-normal dreams, involving Nico? Did Percy down the wrong drink, or are the fates trying to hint at something? Rated M for later chapters. First time fic-writer, so all feedback is welcomed!
1. Too much to wish

Percy was swimming in the lake at Camp Half-blood, enjoying a nice backstroke out in the middle of the day. He could feel the heat beating against his skin, and the waves lapping against him, it felt amazing, and so real.

He didn't know, or care, how long he had been out there, it was a nice day and he was determined to enjoy it, before he got sucked into another one of the God's errands. He was lost in thought when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he freaked, and you'd think his first instinct would be to use some of that all powerful Poseidon magic, Instead, he flailed like a first time free-faller, and ended up losing his balance, dunking under once, before regaining himself.

"What in the-" Before he had a chance to act first, think later, he caught sight of Nico.

"Hey, sorry man, I uh- didn't mean to startle you." He seemed a little embarrassed, but he was also had an unmistakable smirk.

"What is this, the dark and gruesome son of Hades, smiling?"

Nico looked away a little sheepishly, "It happens.." He didn't have a shirt on, and his skin, as pale as usual, was gleaming in the sun. Percy also noticed that Nico wasn't just a skinny frame, he had some muscle hiding underneath all those black t-shirts. Suddenly Percy felt a little self conscious, and embarrassed, though he had no clue why, but he didn't like the weird somersaults his stomach was doing."Gods is I just me, because it is hot out here! But you don't look like you're feeling it whatsoever." Percy forgot that the sun affected others differently, being in the water made him feel on top of the world, he was as unlikely to get a sunburn as he was to drown.

"I don't know, I think you've always been pretty hot" Nico looked taken aback and had a blush creeping up on his face.

"Percy... I uh, have something that..." Nico looked like something was lodged in his throat and slowly killing him, but he just couldn't get it out.

He didn't get a chance to finish because the sky suddenly wasn't filled with a magnificent blue and a hot sun, what took their place was dark murky clouds, that managed to be terrifying. "That doesn't look-" Percy was steadily looking into the sky, completely distracted by the surreal weather change happening before his eyes, that he hadn't noticed the sea responding to the dark shift as well, not until he heard Nico scream his name.

"Perc-" Nico went under the water, pulled in by massive waves that turned as dark as the sky. His head bobbed back up and he struggled to wail for Percy again. It didn't take long, and Percy was moving, controlling the water best he could, but it was resisting, and it was doing a great job of it.

Percy tried to ride the waves, but it was taking too much energy and concentration, it was doing more harm than good. So instead, he swam like hell.

"Nico! Just hold on!" His arms moved as fast and as hard as he could make them. A whirlpool formed around Nico just as Percy reached him.

"Shit shit shit, no... Nico!" He yelled with all the force in his body, if he had even the slightest charmspeak that Piper did, he was sure the waves would have spit Nico right out.

Nico's head went under, Percy dove in without thinking, and the moment his head hit the water, he woke up.


	2. Bandaging wounds

Percy was panting hard, he sat up in bed, his mouth as dry as a desert. He pulled his sluggish self out of bed, running a shaky hand through his hair.

_That dream was so real.._

He was surprised he hadn't woken anyone, with the scream he made when he woke up from that dream. It had felt so different than the others. Normally, he could tell when he was having one of his demi-god dreams, but he hadn't even known. And he had been so terrified, that Nico.. That he...

Percy shook his head, as if to get the haunting images out of his head. He walked toward the kitchen of his mothers apartment. She had wanted him to stay here after the big war with Gaea, she seemed pretty worried, Percy wouldn't have been able to stay at Half-blood if he had wanted. But he didn't mind the break, he had dealt with enough Greek and Roman mythology to last him a lifetime.

The apartment was dark and quite, and Percy enjoyed that because he was still groggy and reeling from his nightmarish sleep, little did he know there was a visitor in the shadows. Nico leaning against the fridge, hiding in the dark corner, relished the image of Percy Jackson int Finding Nemo Boxers, and without a shirt on. Nico's flaming side seemed to burn even more as he watched a very gruff and quite hot half asleep Percy walk across the kitchen and open a cabinet up, his muscles being very hard to miss.

"You're up kind of early."

Percy sprang a foot or two in the air, grabbing his chest as if to keep his heart from beating out of it. "Gods of Olympus, what is it with you and sneaking up on me?" Percy exclaimed, now fully awake from the almost heart attack.

Nico's brow furrowed slightly, "What are you..?"

Percy realized his mistake and shook his head while reaching to fill his glass with water, "Nothing, never mind." He grumbled. "Why are you here, anyway?" Percy brought a full glass of cold water to his mouth, and chugged down a few gulps.

"I- um, well I kind of need some help.." Percy, finally over his little scare, noted how Nico looked paler than normal, and he was leaning against his mom's fridge in an odd fashion, he was also griping his left side with his hand, and there was blood on it.

Percy didn't even think before he was pulling him to the couch, pushing him into a laying position as gently as possible. "Damn, Nico, it looks pretty bad, what happened?" He winced as he tried to pull his jacket off, and Percy moved to help him.

"Here, let me.." Nico propped himself up and the worked together to maneuver his jacket off. Percy was sitting next to him on the couch and Nico leaned forward, about a few inches from his face. Percy noticed how Nico's eyes flicked everywhere, and his breathing shallowed and quickened. Nico was aching with the need to close those few inches and press his mouth to the boy's he was in love with. Nico wouldn't meet Percy's eyes, and the son of Poseidon noted a hint of toothpaste on his breath. Percy, suddenly aware of how close they really were, jumped up awkwardly. "I, um, don't have any ambrosia with me, so I'll have to do it without the aid of magic, I think my mom has a first aid kit, I'll be right back." Percy babbled a bit, then he quickly left the room.

Walking into the bathroom, he flicked on the light, looked in the mirror and saw a tired and slightly ragged face staring at him. That dream really weighed on his mind, it was starting to drive him slightly crazy. "What is wrong with me?" The son of Poseidon whispered to himself. He splashed some water on his face, and feeling a lot more refreshed, quickly grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink, and walked back to find Nico struggling with his shirt, it still gripped his left side and neck, he only managed to wrangle one arm out, and he was furiously tugging at it, and Percy couldn't help but laugh.

"All powerful and fearsome son of Hades, and he can't find his way out of his shirt?" Percy was still lightly laughing. Nico shot him a glare, but his cheeks spouted a red blush. Percy set the first aid down and helped wrangle Nico out of the same old black shirt that clung to his frame.

Nico layed back on the couch, and Percy sat next to Nico on the couch. He ran his fingers over the flushed and pale skin of Nico's stomach, near the gash starting from the middle of his abdomen and slashing upward toward hiss ribs. Nico let out a few strangled breaths, and his head was thrown against the pillow. "Does that hurt?" Percy pulled his hand off of Nico.

"A little bit.." Nico replied through gritted teeth, but he wouldn't look at Percy. It only hurt slightly, but mostly it made him yearn for Percy's firm, yet gentle, fingers roaming all of his body. _Knock it off, Nico._"Can you just hurry this up, please?"

"Yeah, you got another wound waiting to be handed to you?" Percy was working through the first aid kit, pulling out gauze tape and different supplies for Nico's injury.

"Just, get this over with."

"You're probably going to need stitches, Nico... Maybe I can get my mom to run down to Half-Blood and get some ambrosia.. I really should have grabbed some, I'm so stupid some times."

"No, I'll be fine, just do what you need to."

Percy had never really given stitches but he had learned how to through some classes at Half-Blood, for cases like this he supposed, and Nico trusted him. He worked on getting Nico fixed up, mostly focusing on his task, his mind wandering around. The two boys sat in silence as the wound was being treated.

Percy put the finale touches on the bound wound, and hadn't realized how antsy Nico looked. "How's it feel? I can grab you some pain killers if you want, you'll probably need them."

"No, I need to go, thanks." The Hades boy said gruffly as he stood up and started to walk past Percy, but he wasn't letting Nico go anywhere.

Percy stood in front of Nico, a hand planted on his chest, "Whoa dude, you aren't going anywhere until that either heals, or you get some ambrosia."

Nico glanced down at the slightly strong hand planted firmly on his chest, and up at the muscled arm that was attached to it. _Get yourself together, Nico._ His eyes flitted back up to those sea green ones, and he wanted so desperately to just fall into those strong arms. Nico wanted to kiss Percy, and he wanted to yell that he couldn't stay, he could never stay, because it kills him being so close to Percy and not be able to give in to his desires. "I can't, Percy", Nico's eyes bore into the other boy's, as if begging him to do what Nico would never be able to, "I just can't, okay?"

Percy didn't like the way Nico was looking at him, he wanted to help Nico all he could, but his eyes seemed to be begging Percy for mercy almost. "I don't understand, just talk to me, please, Nico, let me help? Percy didn't know what he was doing, it was more reflex but he reached out and grabbed both of Nico's hand and pleaded with his eyes to let him in, let Percy help him.

Nico was so shocked that Percy grabbed his hands, and normally he hated when people touched him, but Percy was different, he was always different. Nico was searching Percy's eyes, looking to see if there was a chance for him in there. But the heavily burdened son of Hades couldn't read anything past concern on the face of the boy he had fallen for. He felt so tired all of a sudden, and knew Percy was right, he needed to stay here.

"Nothings wrong, just a little monster attack. I should get some sleep though.."

"Yeah, sure, you can take my room, I'll sleep on the couch."


	3. A Flight into the Unknown

**Authors note: **Thanks for the favorites and follows everyone! I'm going to try and post a new chapter every saturday, but I'm quite busy with the end of the school year, so I can't make any promises! Please review, I love all feedback, thanks!

Nico was laying in Percy's bed. The same bed he had just evicted not too long ago. The same bed he slept in every night for about a month now, since Gaea was defeated. He curled up into a tighter ball, Percy's smell enveloping his sense as he pulled the blanket closer to him. He could almost pretend he was snuggled up into Percy's warm embrace, rather than his bed's.

And Nico could still remember Percy grabbing his hands, and holding them until they reached his half open door. Percy dropped his hand back to his side, and his sea green eyes flicked nervously at Nico, as if he just realized that holding his hand might be crossing a line. Of course that was a line Nico was waiting to be crossed for years now, but he couldn't say that. He simply relished the moments when Percy, seemingly absentmindedly crossed the line all on his own. He watched Percy's strong and confident form walk over to his dresser, riffle through some drawers and pull out some clothes. Nico would forever be baffled at how Percy could make Nico's heart ache, and his stomach do flips by such simple acts.

Percy had given him some pretty plain pajamas and told him to get some rest, and left Nico alone with his thoughts. Which, in actuality was like staying, since Percy rarely left his mind. Some odd hours later, Nico was finally able to drift asleep.

Nico woke up to his side burning and itching. Sun was flowing through Percy's window, shining on the same moonlace plant Nico had watched the other boy plant so many years ago. Nico pulled himself out of bed and was going to try and sneak out, he figured he could find some ambrosia at his fathers. Nico couldn't find his clothes, so he thought he could just borrow Percy's pajamas for a few days. Or maybe more.

He took one last look around the room, then started to sneak out, only to be stopped by Percy's mother, who was making blue pancakes.

"Nico, there you are, I was about to go check on you! You want some pancakes?" Sally was standing at the oven, nonchalantly flipping blue pancakes. Nico loved Sally, she always made him feel so welcomed, she made an effort to welcome him. But he never felt that she was faking it out of sheer politeness, like with most people. Sally's kindness always felt so genuine, it made him feel like maybe he wasn't such an outcast.

"Uh yeah, sure." He walked toward the kitchen table, and glanced in the living room to see Percy still sleeping on the couch. Glancing at the clock on the wall, Nico realized it was only a little after 9. Nico sat down at the table, a little awkwardly with his wound still flaming. Sally must have noticed because she stopped flipping pancakes and pulled a chair up to Nico.

"Can I see it?" Nico nodded yes and she pulled his shirt up a bit, pulled back the bandages and made a slight hissing sound. "What kind of trouble did you get yourself into last night?" She asked while putting the bandages back in place. Nico glanced nervously at the sleeping form on the couch, and she followed his gaze. Nico quickly looked down at the ground and was pulling his shirt back down to try and get his hands to quit shaking. "Nothing, I just got into a little fight, it was nothing."

Sally looked at him with a slight sadness in her eyes, and standing up she put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. She pulled out some painkillers and sat them on the table next to Nico, "here you go, dear, I imagine you're going to need these. Hey, would you mind trying to wake my comatose son up for me?" Nico took three pills, and started to put them back where she had gotten them, but she told him to keep the bottle, so he slipped them in his pocket.

Seeing Percy sprawled out on the couch was such a great sight, Nico almost didn't want to wake him. He was laying on his stomach, the side of his face all smashed, and his arm dangling off the side. Nico knelt down by the side of the couch, but before he could wake him, he noticed Percy sweating, a lot, and his face was contorted into an expression of pain. And out of no where, Percy's eyes flew open and he gasped for air, like he had been about to drown. And the expression on his face looked so terrified.

"Percy, are you okay?" Nico hadn't realized it, but he had his hand rested on Percy's shoulder blade.

"Oh my gods, I don't.." Percy's hands were shaking, and he rolled over onto his side, pulling his hands around his face. He had been so terrified. He had dream about him and Nico, again, but this time, they were flying on Blackjack together, and they went so high, Nico had his arms around Percy, but Nico's grip faltered. The son of Hades had said sorry, and tried to loosen his grip, acting as if he was touching Percy too much or something, and because he let go, he fell. Percy tried to get blackjack to catch him in time, but he was too late. Nico his the ground, and Percy woke up.

And he had woken up to Nico's dark eyes staring at him, full of worry. Percy peeked through his hands and saw that Nico was still staring at him, he hadn't moved. He also saw his mother through the square overlooking the kitchen. She caught Percy's eyes, then turned away and made herself busy at the sink.

Nico's hand rested on Percy's shoulder, and Nico was getting more and more awkward about it, though he didn't want to move, he wanted to comfort Percy. "Hey, did you have a bad dream? Like, a demi-god bad dream?"

Percy let out a shaky laugh and ran his hands through his hair. "I sure hope not," Percy wanted a change of subject, quickly. "How is your side doing?"

Nico lifted his hand off of Percy and found his side. "It hurts like hell, but your mom gave me some pain killers, I should be fine until we can get some ambrosia."

Percy pushed passed the lingering of his dream and forced a smile, "Is that pancakes I smell?"He rose to his feet, and his legs felt like jello they were shaking so hard, and he would've collapsed had it not been for Nico throwing his arm around Percy's waist and holding him close, keeping him steady. Percy's arm hung loosely on his shoulders and once he found his balance, he noticed Nico's heavy blush, and he smiled in spite of himself.

Nico looked outraged and slipped his arm out from around the other boy. Percy was a little disappointed at the chill that now took place of Nico's arm, but he was already moving towards the wonderful smell in the kitchen.

They spent a good amount of time talking and eating, Sally even managing to get a few laughs out of Nico. Though every time she brought up how he got his injury, he shut down, o they both realized that was something they should steer clear of. After they were finished with breakfast, Percy asked his mother if they could get a ride out to half-blood hill, but he had forgotten that Paul takes the car to work, and he wouldn't be off for another 4ish hours.

"Come on, I've got an idea." Percy started for the door, and his mother and his friend both shared a confused look. "Oh, mom, I'll be back at midnight, okay?"

"Curfew is eleven, mister!"

"eleven thirty?"

"Fine, but if you're a minute late, you're grounded!"

"Love you too, mom!" Percy was walking down the stairs already, with Nico following.

"You know, I've learned to never really trust your ideas, Jackson." Percy had walked out of the building and back into the parking lot, where he stood and let out a loud whistle, like the kind where you use two fingers.

A few minutes later, a black Pegasus came flying into view. Once he landed, Nico was watching has Percy appeared to have a one-sided conversation.

"I know it's been a while, Blackjack." The beautiful Pegasus continued to march around Percy in an excited manner, and Nico loved the grin on the other boy's face as he talked with his old friend.

"Yeah we need a quick rid over to camp Half-blood for Nico-" Percy cut off as he realized what his dream had been about. He looked at Nico's perplexed expression, and the image of him falling off Blackjack was right there, almost as if he was in his dream again.

_What if it was a demi-god dream. What if it's going to happen._

"You okay, Percy?" Nico was getting more worried about his friend the more the day went on. He kept acting strange, and Nico was dying to know what his dream had been about...

Percy tried to fake a smile, but it felt so wrong he let it drop almost instantly. "Yeah, let's get going."

He jumped up onto Blackjack, and Nico followed. Nico hadn't thought of it until he was sitting right behind Percy, his legs resting against the back of his friend's, but he didn't know what to do with his hands. He knew he should hold onto Percy, it's not like Pegasus's have seat belts or anything, but the idea of wrapping his arms around Percy's waist was too much. It felt like it had been 10 minutes since he hopped on the flying horse, and he could feel his heart beating as fast as a jet. He was so scared about what to do and what could happen.

So when Percy grabbed both of Nico's wrists, and pulled his arms around himself, he almost jumped out of his skin. "Hold on tight, okay?"

Nico didn't resist now that he had permission. The ghost prince tightened his arms around the waist of the boy he had fallen so hard for. His heartbeat hadn't slowed down at all, and now he was leaning against the son of Poseidon, he was positive that the other boy could feel it.

"Alright Blackjack, Camp Half-blood here we come!" The Pegasus took off flying, and the wind was whipping Nico so hard in the face, he thought it was a great excuse to bury his head into Percy's neck.

As Percy sat very comfortably in the other boy's embrace, he let all his worries leave him as they flew in silence to his old home.


	4. Buried Feelings

Annabeth was pouring herself over one of her many books, trying to learn more was her biggest hobby. Though she also had different reasons for throwing herself into so many of her studies recently. She was trying to forget about her problems. More specifically, Percy. They made it through the war, against all odds, and afterward they went about doing normal relationship stuff. Not often though, since he's been living with his mother and step-father. But whenever they get a chance, she had even spent the following weekend with him at his house, she had slept on the couch of course. But that weekend changed a lot of things, and ever since then, things hadn't been quite the same, at least not for her.

They had both been exhausted from everything, and the moment Percy got a hold of his mother, she and Paul had rushed over to pick him up, they were sick with worry. But Percy couldn't leave Annabeth, not after everything that just happened.

"Can she come too, please? Mom, I can't just leave her here, she couldn't get a hold of her family, and I won't leave her alone right now!"

His mother agreed after a little bit of Percy's persuading, and they were taken back to their apartment. Sally made them both eat, though they hadn't put up much of a fight, and once they were full, she made Annabeth a spot on the couch. Not long after all the lights went out, Annabeth practically tip-toed into Percy's room.

She pulled back the blankets and cuddled up his side, putting her head on his shoulder and laying her arm across his chest. He blinked his eyes open very slowly, like they weighed a ton, and settled his gaze on her. "Hey there..." His sleepy voice made her all giddy, and she felt her stomach light up with butterflys.

She pulled herself up slightly to lay a peck on his lips. When she was about to pull away, Percy's hand came up behind her head and pressed her into another kiss, a much deeper one. Percy wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Suddenly the butterflys were gone, and she was sure there was supposed to be something else there, she had read plenty of YA books after all, but she didn't feel much but sloppy lips against hers. Percy seemed to be having a completely different reaction however, because he pulled away from their kiss with a shocked look on his face. She gave the boy a look of concern, and when she slid her hand in a downward arc, pulling it back to her side, she hit something and Percy pulled in on himself with a yelp.

She had no clue what was going on, but she knew she hurt him, so she was whispering urgent apologies. "I'm so sorry, oh my gods, Percy, are you okay? What did I do, what did I hit?"

When he straitened back out, she saw where his hands were laying and realized just what happened, and she felt her embarrassment deepening, along with her blush, that he hopefully couldn't see in the dark.

_Percy had a boner holy shit I just hit Percy's boner_

"It's fine." His voice sounded strained, and he put his arm back underneath her head, laying his hand on her shoulder.

Annabeth felt incredibly awkward, they were both silent now, just laying next to each other. A million thoughts were flying through her head, from "Gods of Olympus, I just gave him a boner, and then I hit it, talk about behavior conditioning." to "why didn't I react the way he had?"

Annabeth couldn't tell if it had been 10 seconds or 10 minutes, time felt like it was going drastically slow compared to how quickly chaos had taken over.

But then Percy rolled onto his side, and put his other arm around Annabeth's stomach and whispered that he loved her into her ear. They soon feel asleep in each others arms, and surprisingly, didn't get anything more than a chastising look from his mother.

But Annabeth continued to play the scene over and over again in her mind. Why didn't she feel anything. She always thought she was too analytical about their relationship, always doubting whether or not she was actually in love with him. She didn't know if she was truly in love, or maybe she just enjoyed him. The familiarity and comfort he always brought with him. This was a worn out topic in her head, one she had been nursing ever since their honeymoon phase wore off. But she just enjoyed being with him so much, she could never being herself to act upon anything. Maybe she was just going through hard times and didn't know up from down, let alone love from friendship.

Annabeth realized that she had gotten back on the topic she was trying so desperately to avoid, and continued using her books as a distraction.

They were nearing Camp Half-Blood and Percy could see some kids pointing and waving from over the hill. Percy let out a yell of glee, and he felt Nico's arms tighten a fraction. Without thinking, Percy layed his hand over Nico's and turned his head to look at him.

"You're good, I got you." Percy's hair was whipping in the air, and his smile had a mischievous glint to it. Nico loved the sight of him and could feel his bones aching with the desire to run his hands through that messy mop of black hair.

Blackjack landed gently over the hill, with many excited neighs, and Percy jumped off to pet him, and give him some treats.

Nico jumped down, following his friend, and instantly regretted the hard landing when his side set aflame. Without waiting for Percy, he walked toward the big house, his hand pressed to the side of his ribs. Percy saw him limping away, and was about to run to him but then he was attacked by a crowd of people who were excited to see the all might Percy Jackson back at camp. He tried getting away, telling them he had to go, but before he knew it, the relentless crowd had Percy on their shoulders and were cheering as they led him to Annabeth's cabin.

Nico heard them, and turned just in time to see them throwing Percy at Annabeth, and they were chanting for a kiss. Nico turned, and refused to look back at them as he ran into the big house. And the moment the door closed behind him, he slid against the door and sobs that had been on the brink ever since he realized about his feelings, were suddenly there, ripping through his throat and chest. He barely noticed a blurry figure run toward him. He didn't care enough to pay attention. He just slumped against himself, and let the sobs come.


	5. Working out the details

**Author note: **Sorry this chapter took so long you guys! A lot has happened to me recently. I graduated, had my 18th birthday, and then a really close friend of mine took her own life, so things have been a bit busy lately. Now that I'm out of school though I should have more time, hopefully I'll get some more chapters for you guys you all for the favorites and follows, they're so appreciated, please keep up the feedback!

Nico wasn't sure how long he had been slumped against the door, his shoulders shaking with each sob. He could feel years of bottled up emotions and pure pain coming out in salty tears. Strangely it felt good though, he felt a bit of pressure being released from his shoulders.

And there was someone pacing in front of him and continuously chattering, though he wasn't sure who it was. Frankly, he didn't care; because the picture of Percy holding Annabeth in his arms and flashing her a prize winning grin just wouldn't leave his train of thought.

The person with him had apparently left and fetched him a glass of water. They handed it to Nico and sat next to him, with their hand on his shoulder. He finally calmed down enough to drown the glass and silently handed it back, and put his head in his hands.

His company was now rubbing their hand along Nico's shoulder, "So.. um, are you okay?"

Nico glanced up at Leo, the last person he expected to be comforting him. "Yeah, just peachy."

Leo let out an abrupt laugh, "Well that's certainly not a phrase I thought I'd ever hear from The son of Hades."

"Yeah well there are a lot of things you probably wouldn't expect from me..."

"There's the brooding Nico I know!"

Nico let out a slight puff of air, which Leo took as the closest thing to laughter anyone would ever hear from Nico.

"So, what's eating at you? And I say that figuratively, because I am really not in the mood to have to like surgically remove any kind of brain-eating-life-sucking monster parasite hybrid."

"I.. I need some ambrosia, like yesterday." Nico lifted his shirt up to show his bloody gauze off. "I think I pulled the stitches out on the way here." Leo's face was slightly paler than normal as he jumped up and took off, coming back just as quickly and with some ambrosia.

Nico took it from his friend's hands and downed it as quick as possible. His side instantly felt worlds better. The burning and itching stopped, but he could still feel a dull throb of pain.

He successfully took his own shirt off and tossed it aside, and started to pull his gauze off slowly. Leo sat at the couch across the room, presumably trying to get away from the blood.

"So, how did that happen?" Leo was making his hand busy, and trying to make his mind even busier.

Nico remembered the other night easily. Every detail was stuck on replay. He had been strolling through a bad part of town when some obvious monsters had caught him by surprise. They came lurking out of the shadows, two of them. Though he had no clue what "them" were. They looked human enough at first glance, but if you actually payed attention they had scales running along their neck, and when they talked they gave off a hissing sound, almost like a snake.

"Well well, look what Hades dragged in.." Nico had his sword out in a flash, and he was already checking for escape routes.

"What'ss the boy's name again, sissster?" The man/snake hybrid thing had eyes that flashed a bright green, they almost looked acidic. And Nico noticed that neither of them blinked.

"I believe it'sss Nico, brother. You know what else I know about you little boy?"

Nico had his sword pointed at them, and he was slowly backing up, but they just kept following, staring him down with their unnatural green eyes. "I don't want any trouble, just let me by and maybe you guys can live.."

The siblings gave a spine chilling chuckle at that, with hisses in between. It made Nico's hair stand on end.

"Oh how courageousss of the little hero."

"Not asss courageous as the secret he hidess."

Nico started to shake a little. "What.. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ignorance isn't cute, Nico." The sister dropped her scarey smile and replaced it with a look of contempt. The two started to advance on him even more.

"Everyone knows, Nico, just stop pretending.. "

"It's no use, it will only tire you out."

"Stop!" Nico stopped backing up, he stood his ground with sward pointed right in between the sister's eyes.

She looked bored, which isn't quite the reaction Nico as hoping for. "Just admit it, you're a hopeless little boy crushing on your friend. But what will he say when he finds out his friend is really a fag-"

With a yell Nico slashed at her with a wide arc and a fight ensued. She stumbled backward in time to make Nico's attack nothing but a minor blow to her shoulder. She hissed at him with maliciousness.

"You are going to pay for that you little brat." She lunged at him, and he sliced his sword over and over, waiting for a breather so he could collect his power and open a hole in the ground, big enough for two.

"Don't just ssstand there you idiot! Help me!" Her brother tried at Nico's back and he ended up distracted by one of the two, and then someone's tongue was slicing at his side. He dropped his sword and let out a guttural scream, and the siblings backed away, the Sister had a twisted smile on her face.

She started to reach for Nico's abandoned sword, but Nico let out one more growl and opened the earth beneath the two, and the look of surprise, fear, and pure hatred, was enough to give Nico a slight smile.

He gathered his sword and headed for Percy's, which was luckily right down the road. Nico had a knack for checking in on Percy sometimes. Just to make sure he was still there, still okay. Still the one thing that hasn't be torn out of his life. He knew the way around Percy's town quite well because of it.

Nico managed to tell the story leaving out all the gossipy bits. By the time he finished his story, Percy had stumbled through the door.

"Hey, I'm sorry I-" He cut off as when he noticed Leo on the couch, and quickly assessed the situation. "Did I... Interrupt something...?

Leo observed the way Nico's gaze was planted firmly on his hands sitting in his lap, and the look of worry and concern on Percy's and decided that it was a good time to take his leave. "Nope, I was just helping Nico find ambrosia, and also just leaving." He clapped Percy on the back and barely moved his mouth when he told him to ask Nico how he got hurt, then Leo took his exit, winking at Nico before walking out the door.

"He sure is an odd one..." Percy shook his head as he took a seat next to Nico. "On a serious note though, I'm really sorry for ditching you back there, the campers wouldn't let me go easily, and the were determined to reunite Annabeth and I."

"Don't worry about it alright." Nico slid as away from Percy as he could without practically crawling over the couch arm.

Percy didn't look happy about dropping it, but he changed the subject anyway, "How's your side doing?"

"Better." Nico was angry, and he was taking it out on Percy. He knew he was, and he knew how unfair it was, but he also didn't care. So yeah he was being short, sue him, he's a 14 year old who's literally gone to hell, he deserves a break from bottling it all up.

"Nico, would you just talk to me? What happened?" Percy moved closer to his friend and laid a hand on Nico's thigh.

Nico's breath caught in his chest for a minute. He just stared at his thigh, he could feel his own pulse through Percy's hand. At least he thought it was his pulse. He also realized how incredibly sweaty he was, and his temperature felt like it was rising by the second. He felt like he could feel his heart making it's way up his throat. "Does it feel hot in here, all of a sudden?" Nico grabbed at the collar of his shirt and pulled at it as he quickly jumped off, making Percy's hand fall back to his side. Nico paced the room a bit, running his hands through his hair.

"Nico, are you okay? You seem... Really anxious..."

Nico let out a humorless laugh. "I'm gonna go to my cabin okay, I'll see you at dinner I guess." And with that, Nico rushed out the door, not once daring to look back.


	6. Planning to Run

Annabeth shut the door and leaned against it. Shooting an exasperated look at Piper, she huffed out air and hung her head.

Piper giggled as she flipped through her book.

"I love this place, and the people here..." She paused with a look of thought, "Well _most _of the people here anyway, but they are so intrusive."

"They're only intrusive on you two, because you're like the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt of Camp Half Blood."

"They literally threw him on my porch steps, Piper." She grumbled as she sat next to her friend. She just laughed in response.

"You know I never thought you'd be so grumpy about seeing Percy."

Annabeth dropped her gaze, "Yeah, neither did I." She mumbled, mostly to herself.

Piper must have noticed because she quickly changed the subject, "Hey we should go do something."

"Like what?" Annabeth picked up another book and flipped through it.

"Why don't we get our group together and go somewhere else, get out of Camp Half-blood with any other excuse besides a dumb quest."

"And where do you suppose we go, exactly?" Annabeth lost interest in her book.

"The beach! It's summer, there will be real teenagers there, why not?"

Annabeth looked at her with eyebrows raised, and they decided everyone would enjoy a vacation from demi-god madness.

The two girls both got up and planned out the day, then they wen out to talk to their other friends, but Annabeth was avoiding telling Percy.

"Why don't you tell Percy, I've got to get some of my stuff together." Annabeth was milling around her room.

"Um, because he's not my boyfriend. And what do you have to get together? There's a bathing suit, and a towel."

"Sunblock, food if we're gonna be down there for a while, and a book, or two-"

"Annabeth, what is wrong? Why are you avoiding Percy?"

"I'm not..." She glanced up at Piper, and Piper raised and eyebrow at her. "I'm not!" Piper just looked at her some more, "Fine, I'll tell him!" She threw her hands over her head and stormed out of her cabin.

She walked up to Percy's cabin and looked straight at it, not letting herself get distracted.

_I'll just tell him what we're doing and then say I have to get my stuff together, then I can skedaddle._

She was marching up the steps, and raised a fist to know, but then the door opened anyway, and Percy almost ran right into her.

"Oh, hey dear," He looked surprised, and in a hurry.

"Hey, I was just coming to tell you that a bunch of us, are going down to the beach, outside of Camp Half-blood-"

"But we have a lake here."

"Yeah, I know," _Duh they have a lake here, I've been here longer than you, seaweed brain, I know they have a lake here, _"But we thought a break from this place would be nice. Real beach, real people." Percy still didn't look like he got it. "Piper thought it would be fun, and that you'd enjoy it.

"Piper thought?" Percy was actually looking at her now.

"Well yeah, it was Piper's idea, and she thought you'd like to come."

"Do _you _want me to come?" He could tell something was up with her, but he didn't have Annabeth's gift of reading people.

"Well yeah of course I do... Well, I've got some stuff to get together, we're leaving in about an hour." She turned on her heel and started to go.

"Hey wait, did you invite Nico along?"

"Oh no, I forgot," She started to turn back around.

"Oh don't worry, I was heading over there anyway, I'll drag him along."

She nodded and then hurried off.

Percy knocked on the door for about the tenth time, but still no answer.

"Nico, I know you're in there, would you let me in already.

A few more knocks.

"Nico come on, what are you even doing."

More knocks. Percy leaned his head against the door.

"Nico... Please let me in, I wanted to talk to you."

A few moments of nothing, and then he heard the door click, and the door opened up with him still leaning against it. "Ahhh!" He pitched forward and barely regained his balance before getting a face full of floor. He steadied himself and looked up to see a smirking Nico. Percy started laughing and so did Nico.

"So, how are you doing?" Percy asked after he finally regained himself.

"Fine, my side is healing up just fine."

"That's not what I meant." The stared at each other for a while, and Percy could tell that Nico wouldn't budge.

"Can I see it?" Percy said with a sigh.

_Are you asking to see my wound or me with my shirt off, _was the thought that passed through Nico's mind.

Instead, all he did was nod. He lifted up just the side of his shirt, and slowly undid that gauze, displaying a wound that was no longer ripped open and displaying all kinds of muscle tissue. Instead, it was healing up, still not completely closed , but it was smaller and not red around and irritated looking. Nico put the gauze back on and let is shirt fall.

The boys just sat in silence for a bit.

"Are you okay, Nico?"

"Yeah I just told you, the ambrosia is doing it's job, I'm fine."

"Nico!" Percy said, his voice louder than it should be, he looked at Nico exasperated. "You're obviously mad at me, so what did I do this time? Is it from ditching you when we got here? Because I really didn't mean to, those campers are relentless, and I left as soon as I could."

The sight of Percy blabbing because he thought Nico was mad at him was just so precious that any harbored feelings vanquished almost immediately. "Nah it's fine," He knows Percy would protect him to the end, lead him through blood and fire. That's one of the things he admired about Percy; his bravery, but most importantly his loyalty to his friends.

Nico looked back up into Percy's eyes and could still see concern on his face. And he wanted to burn it out, he didn't want to worry Percy. But he couldn't very well tell him what was going on either. Nico imagined telling Percy all the time. How Percy would react, and what would happen afterward. Depending on his mood, the interaction could end in a multitude of ways. Percy could freak out and run away, looking at Nico like he was one of the countless monsters they've faced. Or he would hug him and tell him that it was okay, more than okay, that he felt the same way.

Nico thought about just blurting it out. He would string words together in endless variations but none felt right. They all sat on his tongue like bricks, making him mute.

"How did you get that anyway?" Percy gestured toward Nico's injury, "you still haven't told me."

Nico wanted to avoid the conversation as best as possible, but he knew that would seem odd, so he told the rundown story that he told Leo. Percy squinted his eyes a bit and furrowed his brow, which made Nico nervous.

"I'm glad you were so close to my house." Was Percy's only response. Nico could feel his pulse in his throat, he was so anxious.

"Yeah, that was a good bit of luck. Anyway, I think I'm gonna head out."

"Wait what, no you just got here! Why don't you stay a while? I was just gonna call my mom and tell her I was going to stay a week maybe, you should too." Nico looked uncertain, Percy barreled on. "We're going to the beach later, like a real one. I would really enjoy your company... Please?"

Nico's entire fight just dissolved away when he said that last line. And he looked so hopeful and, Nico couldn't deny it, he looked adorable.

"Yeah alright, I'll go to the beach, but I don't know about all week."

Percy's whole face lit up, "Baby steps." He said with a smirk. "Get your swimming stuff, I'll meet up with you in about an hour!"

Nico watched him go, and thought for about the millionth time that this boy was going to be the death of him one day.

**Author note:**

Sorry this was more of a filler chapter to get things set up for the plot. Don't worry, I do have an actual plot in mind, I'm not making shit up as I go along... Well, maybe a little bit, but some of it is planned!

Anyway, stick along for the ride please! I'm really grateful for all of the attention!


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